Dryad portraits: our Tree themed reveal at AJE

Welcome Autumn! Welcome to the reveal of the Tree themed challenge at Art Jewelry Elements. Caroline gave us a simply amazing inspiration post to start us off, and this image haunted me… baumbuddhatreebuddahfacehiddenimage-5adf4072c250d06096d141de8ccfceb3_h

This face in the trees made me think of many visual references,  Green Men among them. But what to do? First there is my piece from a year or so ago – when Rebekah gave us wood grain hearts for COM:

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Heart of the Forest piece from April 2015

Then there was a haunting memory of a poster I had as a teen. A poster showing carved stone heads of all the River Gods of Ireland. Personifications in stone of the rivers deities… A little Googling and I found some images. (Carved by E. Smyth, they are on the Customs House in Dublin)

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River Gods of Ireland by E. Smyth. They adorn the Customs House in Dublin.

So I knew I wanted to reprise the dryad face… and move forward with that idea. Perhaps different faces for different tree species? I started with stoneware face cabochons I had in my inventory.

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Heart of the Forest piece from April 2015

 

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Heart of the Forest piece from April 2015

I love the matte stoneware with the softer satin look of the polymer. I did use some cabs that were glazed, but kept to my autumnal palette. I am thrilled with how this idea is evolving!

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My 4 mixed media dryads await accents.

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Feeling Fall. Waiting for beads and gems…

These dryads pendants are not going to set down roots in my studio! They will be paired with gems and as necklaces the will head to FaerieCon in November. I need to add a few dryad sisters to the grove…

Until then:

please take  a peek at what our guests and my teammates have created this month!

AJE Team

20 thoughts on “Dryad portraits: our Tree themed reveal at AJE”

  2. Cathy s. Mendola says:
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    You know I’m a big fan of all your work but OH MY!!! I am loving these dryads. NEED some please!!! They are all fabulous. I love that you used ceramic faces and then added polymer. Very, very cool. Can’t wait to see some dryad sistas!

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  4. Laney Mead says:
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    Love those stone heads, had to save that photo on my Pinterest boards! I love seeing how your dryads are evolving and look forward to seeing the sistas and photos from Faeiriecon.

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  5. Lesley Watt says:
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    I love these so much – especially the unglazed stoneware…that has a great contrast with the rich earthy colours of the polymer…you know how I love rich and earthy!

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  14. Tammy Adams says:
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    I love these dryad faces. The way you combined the polymer clay tree elements with the stoneware cabs is fabulous. What a great series, I’m sure they will be quite popular at the convention.

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  16. Cindy Martin-Shaw says:
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    That image haunted me as well! Your dryad cabs are full of beautiful detail and color. Just lovely! Your talent is impressive. These will be the perfect FaerieCon adornment.

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